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Dr. Axe’s Essential Oils Guide

Essential oils are organic compounds extracted from plants with tremendous healing properties. Using essential oils for healing purposes is often called aromatherapy, which is a holistic treatment seeking to improve physical, mental and emotional health.

For over 5,000 years, many different cultures have used these healing plant oils for a variety of health conditions. They are often used for relaxation, beauty care, home cleaning and most often used as natural medicine.

Just adding some of the most common essential oils like lavender, frankincense, lemon, peppermint and tea tree oil to your natural medicine cabinet may:

Fight cold and flu symptoms

Relax your body and soothe sore muscles

Heal skin conditions

Alleviate pain

Balance hormones

Improve digestion

Reduce cellulite and wrinkles

Clean your home

What Are Essential Oils?

Essential oils are extracted directly from the bark, flower, fruit, leaf, seed or root of a plant or tree, and just one drop can have powerful health benefits. They are typically created through the process of distillation, which separates the oil and water-based compounds of a plant by steaming.

Essential oils are highly concentrated oils that have a strong aroma. Sometimes they are called volatile aromatic oils because of their high concentration of the aromatic compounds. For example, the oil of “absolutes” is obtained from delicate flowers by either enfleurage or solvent extraction. Absolute oils often mimic the natural aroma of the plant and are also more colored and viscous than essential oils. (1)

By concentrating the oils of these plants, you are literally separating the most powerful healing compounds of a plant into a single oil. For instance, in order to get one single 15ml bottle of rose essential oil, it take 65 pounds of rose petals!

These therapeutic oils in plants protect the plant from insects, shield the plant from a harsh environment and help them adapt to their surroundings. By taking essential oils, you are harnessing the protective and beneficial powers of a plant.

Essential oils are composed of very small molecules that can penetrate your cells, and some compounds in essential oils can even cross the blood-brain barrier. They differ from fatty oils (like those in vegetables or nuts) that come from large molecules because they cannot penetrate your cells, so they are not therapeutic in the same manner.

History of Aromatherapy

Since the use of essential oils is present in many countries, it is difficult to pinpoint where the practice originated. Oils have been used by the Jews, Chinese, Indians, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans both as cosmetics, perfumes and for their medicinal purposes. Some cultures even used oils in spiritual rituals.

In 1928, French chemist, René-Maurice Gattefossé used lavender oil to heal a burn on his hand. He then decided to further analyze the properties of lavender oil and how it could be used to treat other types of skin infections, wounds or burns.

With this the science of aromatherapy was born. Gattefossé’s main goal was to help injured soldiers during World War I. The use of these oils began to spread especially with practitioners of alternative medicine, such as massage therapists and beauticians throughout Europe.

Aromatherapy did not become popular in the U.S. until the 1980s when essential oils began to be added to various lotions, candles or other fragrances.

There are also trained professionals such as aromatherapists, physical therapists, massage therapists, nutritionists or even doctors of natural medicine who use aromatherapy in their practice and are trained in specific uses for essential oils.

Essential Oils Now Used In Medical Hospitals

Aromatherapy has a variety of health benefits and can be used in various settings. It is a great, non-invasive way to deal with a variety of medical concerns and can often be used safely in combination with many other therapies.

Many traditional hospitals, like Vanderbilt University Hospital, are catching on to the benefits of essential oils and are using them in the treatment of anxiety, depression and infections in hospitalized patients.

A 2009 study found that pre-operative patients who received aromatherapy with lavandin oil were significantly less anxious about their surgery than controls. (2a) Other oils such as sandalwood, neroli oil and lavender oil have also been used in traditional medicine to help patients better manage anxiety.

Certain essential oils have also been used by midwives to help reduce fear and anxiety during childbirth. A 2007 study in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine suggests that women who used aromatherapy during labor reported less pain overall and were able to use fewer pain medications. (2b) In fact, a 2016 study published in Pain Research and Treatment showed that “aromatherapy can successfully treat pain when combined with conventional treatments.” (3)

Essential oils can also have antibacterial or antifungal benefits used in medical settings. Many oils, when massaged on the skin, can help treat skin conditions, such as burns, cuts and scrapes. Others may help boost the immune system, help with insomnia and aid with digestion.

Essential oils are even being used to help fight cancer, as there is a plentiful amount of research on the correlation between frankincense essential oil and reduced brain tumor risk or spread.

Top 15 Essential Oils + Health Benefits

Each and every essential oil contains compounds with unique healing and therapeutic benefits. Here are some of the most popular essential oils and how to use them.

12. Rose: Incredible for reducing skin inflammation and great for creating glowing skin. (17) Add a few drops to your facial moisturizer. Also, this is one of the most valued essential oils in the world at $1000+ for 15ml.

13. Rosemary: Can naturally thicken hair, so it’s great to add to homemade shampoos. Also, it improves brain function and memory so it’s great to used when working, reading or studying. (18)

Different oils can be blended together to enhance each’s energy or can be blended with a base oil to be used for massage, shower gels or body lotions.

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Essential Oil Applications

Ready to let essential oils guide you back to health? Here are the four most common ways these healing oils are used today:

Topically – Essential oils have a very small size and of the chemical weight of less than 1000m (m = weight of molecule). According to scientific testing, any substance with a molecular weight below 1000m should be absorbed by the skin.

This means that essential oils are able to penetrate the skin and pass into the bloodstream and into different areas of the body for internal therapeutic benefits.

Aromatically – There is great evidence that essential oils are absorbed into the bloodstream when inhaled. The large amount of blood vessels in the lungs absorb the oils and then circulate them throughout the body.

Using a diffuser can help you experience the benefits of essential oils. You can diffuse lavender to reduce stress, melaleuca to cleanse the air, wild orange to improve mood, frankincense for spiritual enlightenment and peppermint to improve focus and energy.

Ingestion – Essential oils can be used as a powerful form of medicine but it should be remembered that again, essential oils are powerful. Most essential oils are safe for internal use but a little bit goes a long way. Usually 1–3 drops is plenty mixed with water.

Oils like peppermint, lemon and frankincense have great internal benefits and can be taken with water. Other essential oils like clove and oregano need to be diluted and shouldn’t be taken internally for more than 1 week.

Personal Care – Today, the fastest way essential oils are being used is by making homemade DIY personal care products. This is an excellent away to take advantage of essential oils to improve your beauty, home and long-term health.

Some of the best DIY recipes to use essential oils with include: shampoo, body butter, toothpaste, bug spray, lip balm and household cleaner.

Best Carrier Oils for Aromatherapy

Essential oils are extremely small so they can pass through the skin and into the body quickly. But if you want to keep the oils on your skin and dilute them to create more gentleness on the skin you can combine them with carrier oils.

These larger oils that come from the fatty part of the plant can increase the length of time the essential oils stay on your skin and also prolong the aromatherapy effects.

Some people mistakenly think using carrier oils reduces the effectiveness of the oil but really it can be the opposite. Dilution increases the surface area of absorption and with certain oils can prevent sensitivities.

Essential Oils for Hair Growth

Essential oils for hair loss can make a significant difference. Oils of rosemary, lavender and sage can all help naturally thicken hair by stimulating the hair follicles.

Clary sage and lavender support hair growth by balancing estrogen levels and rosemary essential oil works by inhibiting DHT (dihydroxy-testosterone) that stops hair loss. Here is how to naturally thicken hair with essential oils:

Essential Oil Bug Spray

Bugs and mosquitos can cause big problems in certain areas of the world. These pests can ruin vacations, BBQ’s and special occasions. To keep bugs at bay, you can make a homemade natural bug spray that works!

Unfortunately, most people turn to chemicals sprays like DEET that are highly toxic to the body instead of using all-natural mosquito repellent and essential oil bug sprays. Here are the top essential oils to repel insects:

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Essential Oil Topics

Medical Disclaimer

This content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice or to take the place of such advice or treatment from a personal physician. All readers/viewers of this content are advised to consult their doctors or qualified health professionals regarding specific health questions. Neither Dr. Axe nor the publisher of this content takes responsibility for possible health consequences of any person or persons reading or following the information in this educational content. All viewers of this content, especially those taking prescription or over-the-counter medications, should consult their physicians before beginning any nutrition, supplement or lifestyle program.